A Cold (1)
I woke up that morning with a cold.
"Ahh. Throat's fine, and I don't think I have a fever."
Still, aside from a bit of coughing I felt alright, so I decided to just go to school.
"If I rest well and eat well, I'll get better."
Going to the hospital was too much of a hassle. I bought a mask at the convenience store on the way, put it on, and took some cold medicine.
By the time I reached the classroom, my body had gone considerably more sluggish than when I'd first gotten out of bed. I'd arrived early as usual, and the empty classroom greeted me just like always. I dragged my heavy legs over, dropped into my seat, and decided to rest my head on the desk until class started — even a little sleep would help.
I closed my eyes for a while, face down on the desk. The classroom gradually filled with arriving students, and before long Kang Hanbyeol walked in.
"Oh, Juyeong, early again today— wait, what's wrong with this guy?"
Right behind him, Kim Naeun came in next.
"Kang Hanbyeol, why are you just standing there— wait, what's wrong with Juyeong?"
"Beats me?"
I couldn't see him, but from the way he said it, I could picture him shrugging.
"Hey, guys. Morning."
The last one through the door was the girl I'd been seeing a lot of lately.
"...What's wrong with Juyeong?"
"Dunno? Maybe he's sick?"
"If it's his head, he's always looked like he's in pain. Heh."
Hey. I can hear all of that.
Unlike the other two, who actually sounded concerned, this guy was the only one treating it like a joke. I kept pretending to be asleep, listening to their conversation, when Kim Naeun spoke up.
"The homeroom teacher's gonna be here soon. Should we wake him up?"
"Yeah, probably should."
"Who's gonna do it?"
"How about we rock-paper-scissors for it?"
What am I, a ghost?
"Can't just anyone wake him up? Why all the fuss?"
"Come on, waking him up normally is boring."
Just wake me up normally! Normally!
"Still, when he opens his eyes, wouldn't it be more energizing to see his girlfriend than a guy like me?"
"Oh, that actually makes sense!"
Kim Naeun and Kang Hanbyeol high-fived like they'd just cracked some brilliant code.
"...Tsk."
Yeonhee clicked her tongue and slowly approached. Footsteps drew closer, closer — then a hand landed on my right shoulder and shook me.
"Juyeong, wake up. Homeroom teacher's gonna be here any minute."
"Nn... mm..."
I sat up slowly, pretending I'd actually been asleep.
"What's wrong? Are you sick?"
"Just a cold, I think." I coughed.
"Yeah? If you're feeling that bad, why don't you go home early?"
"I'm— cough —fine, so— cough —don't worry about it."
"Maybe try saying that without coughing?"
Come to think of it, this might have been the first time in my life anyone had ever worried about me.
"Being worried about isn't so bad..."
"What are you mumbling about?"
I must have said that out loud.
"That's it. You look really sick. We're getting you dismissed right now."
"I'm fi— mmph."
"Quiet."
Yeonhee clapped a hand over my mask to shut me up, then grabbed my hand, pulled me to my feet, and marched me straight to the teachers' office. The sliding door rattled open, then shut.
"Sir, Juyeong looks really sick, so I brought him to ask if he could go home early."
"Oh, is that so? You feeling that bad, Juyeong?"
"I—"
"I think he's too sick to even talk."
My opinion had already been taken out of the equation.
"If he's that sick, we should send him home right away. Should I call your parents?"
I shook my head. The teacher knew about my family situation — he'd only asked out of courtesy. They wouldn't have picked up anyway.
"Alright. Yeonhee, help Juyeong pack his things. Juyeong, get some rest, and I'll see you tomorrow."
Having been declared too sick to speak, I just nodded along.
"Yes, sir. Sorry to bother you."
The door rattled shut behind us.
"You heard the teacher, right? Go home and rest today."
"...Okay."
When we got back to the classroom, Kim Naeun and Kang Hanbyeol were hovering by the door.
"What'd the teacher say?"
"He said to go home."
"What? I'm so jealous!"
Jealous of what? I feel like I'm dying over here.
"Anyway, we're sending Juyeong off first."
"Yeah, well, nothing we can do. Rest extra for my sake too."
"Juyeong, get home safe. See you tomorrow."
I waved in place of a proper goodbye, grabbed my things, and left the classroom.
"Watch out for cars on the way home, and once you're inside, don't think about anything. Just rest."
I nodded.
"Alright, I'm heading back in."
Yeonhee went back into the classroom, and I turned around and walked out through the school gates.
I was staggering my way home when a drop hit me. Then another. Raindrops began to fall, one or two at a time, then more and more. As if things weren't bad enough, now it was raining.
"Haah... just my luck..."
Before the rain could get any heavier, I scraped together what little energy I had left and ran the rest of the way. Fortunately my place wasn't far from school, so I made it pretty quickly. The moment I got inside I flung my bag somewhere near the entrance and headed for my room. I didn't even think to change out of my uniform. I walked to the bed, collapsed onto it like I'd passed out, and closed my eyes.
Rain hissed against the glass. Tap. Tap-tap.
"Cough."
The sound of rain hitting the window pulled my eyes open on their own. The world swam in front of me. My head felt like it was splitting apart, and my stomach churned with nausea. The saliva I swallowed stung as it went down my throat, and my face burned like it was on fire. No — not just my face. My entire body felt like a lump of burning coal. My vision spun. Half-asleep, I couldn't tell if this was a dream or reality.
"Sniff... now my nose is running too."
The voice that came out of my mouth was a full tone lower than usual — cracked and hoarse.
"...What time is it?"
I tried to sluggishly push myself up from where I was lying face-down. The moment I planted my arms on the bed, all the strength drained out of me and I sank right back into the mattress.
"Ah, dammit..."
A curse slipped out on its own at the miserable state of my body. I'd taken it too lightly. My condition was apparently a lot worse than I'd thought. Getting up right now seemed impossible, so I decided to find my phone and check the time. I groped around above my head until my hand found something cold and hard.
"Ugghhh..."
Making a noise like I was dying, I rolled over, turned on my phone, and checked the time.
12:30. Not long past noon. Waking up at this hour, hunger was probably part of the reason too.
"So the body's sick but the stomach still wants food, huh..."
I wasn't in any condition to cook a proper meal, but you have to eat well to get better, so I figured I'd eat something at least. No matter how sick you are, if your body doesn't have any nutrients, even things that should get better won't. It wasn't like anyone was around to look after me. If I collapsed, I'd be in real trouble. I needed to take care of myself before I ended up as a morning news headline: Eighteen-Year-Old Student Found Dead of Illness in Apartment.
"Alright. Let's try getting up."
I slowly got to my feet and stepped out of my room, where cold air and a dim hallway greeted me.
"...I should turn the heat up."
I cranked the boiler a bit higher, then headed for the kitchen. I opened the fridge. There were plenty of side dishes and ingredients, but even pulling out a side dish felt like too much effort, so I didn't even glance at them. I just grabbed an egg and decided to make a simple egg porridge.
I turned on the tap, set some rice to soak in a pot, and started cracking an egg into a bowl — then misjudged my strength, and a little piece of shell fell in.
"Haah... you've got to be kidding me."
I tried to scoop it out with a shard of the broken shell. It kept slipping through the gap. I scowled and wrestled with the eggshell until my head started spinning, and I gave up.
...Eating it won't kill me.
I rationalized it away, gave the egg a rough scramble, and added a pinch of salt. That was all the prep I could manage.
Haah... this sucks...
This is the hardest part of living alone. When you're sick, there's nobody to take care of you. People get emotional when they're sick. And if there's nobody around in a situation like that, of course you get depressed. That's why I usually try to manage my condition so I don't get sick in the first place, but—
I'm already sick. What's the point of thinking about it now.
I stood there for a moment, but my body kept getting heavier until I could barely stay on my feet. I pulled out a chair from the table and dropped into it. I set a timer on my phone and forced myself to think about something else, anything to push the gloom away.
School's probably on lunch break around now.
I wonder how class went...
I don't even study normally, but of course that's what pops into my head at a time like this.
I'd been thinking about what might have happened at school when, as if on cue, a message came in from Yeonhee.
...Talk about timing.
I checked the notification before opening the chat.
A photo whose contents I wouldn't know until I opened it.
...A photo?
I went into the chat and tapped the picture. The screen went black for a moment as it loaded.
"Ah, shit."
I jumped so hard I dropped my phone on the table. Filling the entire screen was Kang Hanbyeol's face, mashed up against the camera.
I just opened Pandora's box, didn't I...
The shock made my already-nauseous stomach feel even worse. Curious why she'd send something like that, I quickly typed a reply.
I snorted. It was a nothing conversation, but it was just enough to ease the gloom.
Wondering what weird photo she'd sent this time, I held the phone at a distance and checked. It was a picture of bread and a drink sitting on a desk.
...Wouldn't bread taste way better than plain egg porridge with nothing in it?
...?
Wait for what?
I was still turning that over when a message came in from Kang Hanbyeol.
What's that supposed to mean? I watched for a moment, wondering what nonsense he was on about.
A stream of photos came in, each one a rapid-fire close-up of his own face.
"This lunatic."
I knew he was crazy, but he was way more unhinged than I'd given him credit for. I backed out of the chat. The unread count just kept climbing. I decided to ignore it and went back to Yeonhee's conversation.
He's still doing that? This guy's insane. Gotta give him credit for the dedication, at least.
As I was thinking that, my phone buzzed again.
...?
...What was she trying to say?